Others are not as kind, using terms like “dump” and “toilet” for one of baseball’s most unloved ballparks.

The O.co Coliseum, longtime home of the eager-to-flee Oakland Athletics, will be in the limelight again this weekend when the two-time American League West champions host the Detroit Tigers in Games 1 and 2 of their Division Series.

It’s not the most flattering spot for a facility that opened in 1966 and has undergone few renovations, other than the $127 million construction done for the Oakland Raiders’ return in 1996, most of it on the so-called Mt. Davis stands behind the outfield.

The Coliseum is tied for the fifth-oldest facility in the majors, and it age shows not only in its cramped concourses and lack of amenities, but most notoriously, in the plumbing problems that surfaced this year and made the place a national butt of jokes.

“I am kind of interested to see how the plumbing holds up with an extra 20,000 people in the stands,” A’s reliever Sean Doolittle said. “I’m sure that will be discussed on the broadcast, the stadium with the sewage issues.”

Three times during the A’s season, sewage cropped up in unexpected places, once in the teams’ clubhouses -- forcing Oakland and Seattle Mariners players to shower elsewhere -- once in the A’s dugout and a third time in their coaches’ dressing room. Reliever Ryan Cook described the last incident as “a sewage volcano.”

Coliseum officials expressed confidence the ballpark will hold up well for the playoffs after it was put through a review that determined the plumbing problems were not the result of faulty infrastructure.

Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, who heads the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority that manages the facility, said grease dumped on a drain and pieces of cloth contributed to the major sewage backup in June. The two incidents in September stemmed from a towel dropped in a toilet next to the A’s dugout and clogged drainage during an unexpected rainstorm. All have been resolved.

“We’re taking all the necessary steps to make sure there are no hiccups during this playoff series,” Miley said, “and if the A’s are blessed enough to get to the World Series, that everything continues to go smoothly.”

The incidents, combined with the A’s perennial attendance woes in the regular season, have given them more ammunition in their campaign to find a new home.

Their desired move to San Jose has been blocked by the San Francisco Giants’ claim of territorial rights to the South Bay. Selig formed a committee to study the A’s stadium options more than four years ago but it has yet to issue any public recommendations.

Meanwhile, the A’s continue to thrive on the field -- they’ve had the AL’s second-best record two years in a row -- but not at the gate, where they ranked 23rd in the majors with an average of 22,337 fans a game.

Oakland players say the tight quarters in their clubhouse actually contribute to the team’s renowned camaraderie, and they have adopted an “It’s a dump, but it’s our dump” kind of attitude.

“Yeah, it’s got sewage problems. Yeah, it’s old. We get it. We know,” outfielder and first baseman Brandon Moss said. “And they’re going to say it on TV, I’m sure. But then they’re going to see 40,000 people louder than they’ve ever heard 70,000 people be, and they’re going to be like, ‘This is actually not that bad of a place to play.’”

Moss said a full Coliseum is considerably louder than Fenway Park, where he played for the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and ‘08.

Tigers players remarked about the hostile atmosphere they encountered during last year’s playoffs, and that was with a seating capacity of 35,067. Oakland has expanded it to 48,146 by removing the tarps that usually cover the upper level of the grandstand.

“It’s one of the toughest stadiums to play in,” Tigers star Miguel Cabrera said. “It was very loud. Even if they lose, they’re loud too.”

But as the only baseball ballpark that doubles as an NFL stadium, the Coliseum lacks any charm or intimacy, with the biggest foul territory in the majors. On Thursday, workers were still painting over the yard lines left over from Sunday’s Raiders-Washington Redskins game. They’re still visible.

Miley said there’s little incentive -- or money -- to make the place any better. For one, taxpayers are still on the hook for more than $100 million in bonds from the 1996 expansion. And both the A’s and Raiders want new, separate stadiums.

Until that happens, the Coliseum will continue to serve as their home, unappreciated except perhaps for those most intimately connected with it. One of them is A’s vice president of stadium operations David Rinetti, who has worked at the venue for 33 years.

“Anyone can put it down all they want, it can be called any name you want it to be called,” Rinetti said, “but there’s still magic there, and I think everyone is going to see that, in the next few games especially.”